These inventions generally relate to telecommunications, and particularly, to messaging systems in telecommunication networks. More particularly, these inventions relate to the organization of the mailboxes of subscribers in such messaging systems.
A messaging system such as a voice mail service typically provides a subscriber with at least two features: (1) the ability to record a name and/or greeting that will be heard or otherwise reviewed by callers or message senders when they access the subscriber""s mailbox; and (2) the ability to retrieve messages that have been left by callers or other message senders and associated with the subscriber""s mailbox.
An example of a messaging system is the Access NP(copyright) system from Comverse Network Systems, Inc. (CNS), 100 Quannapowitt Parkway, Wakefield, Mass., USA. Information about the Access NP(copyright) system is available from the web site of CNS at http://www.comversens.com/prodserv/products/accessnp.htm. The information at that web site on the Access NP(copyright) system including information on platform management, hardware architecture, software architecture, services to succeed, and specifications is incorporated herein by reference.
Also refer for further information on messaging systems to the following patents assigned to Comverse Technology Inc.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,317,628 Message Management System; U.S. Pat. No. 5,586,173 Message Management System; U.S. Pat. No. 5,668,855 Message Management System; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,909,483 Remote Subscriber Migration. Further see the following patents assigned to Boston Technology, Inc.: U.S. Pat. No. 6,115,455 Method and Apparatus for Dynamically Creating Message Mailboxes; U.S. Pat. No. 5,659,599 Voice Mail Network and Networking Method; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,524,139 System for Automatic Access to Automated Telephonic Information Services. All of the above patents are incorporated herein by reference.
The Access NP(copyright) system includes hardware and software components with the software components including at least three general programs: system administration; maintenance mode; and online diagnostics. The system administration program includes administration features for mailboxes for subscribers to the messaging services provided by the system. A subscriber may be provided with voice mail service by the Access NP(copyright) system, and for such voice mail service, the subscriber may be assigned one or more voice mailboxes. Typically, each voice mailbox has a name or address so that the mailbox may be accessed. The name or address of a voice mail box may be a number that corresponds to a subscriber""s telephone or other number. For example, a subscriber""s voice mailbox may be assigned the number 404.815.6213 corresponding to the subscriber""s telephone number in the NPA-NXX-XXXX format. (NPA refers to the numbering plan area or area code for the telephone number; NXX generally refers to the telephone exchange serving the telephone number; and XXXX refers to the particular number assigned to the subscriber.) Of course, the subscriber may have other voice mailboxes whose numbers correspond to numbers or identifiers for such other devices. For example, in addition to a voice mailbox corresponding to his or her telephone (landline/Wireline) number, the subscriber may have a voice mailbox corresponding to the number of his or her wireless unit such as a cellular unit.
A messaging system such as the Access NP(copyright) system may serve thousands of subscribers and include thousands of mailboxes. To provide a subscriber with service, the messaging system must be able to readily access or to readily provide access to the subscriber""s mailbox. Given that the messaging system may include thousands of mailboxes, the mailboxes may be organized into groups or associated with respective domains so as to facilitate access to any particular mailbox. When mailboxes of a messaging system are organized into groups or associated respectively into domains, then a particular mailbox generally is accessed through the use of the group or domain with which the voice mailbox is associated. Thus, the group or domain with which a mailbox is associated also may be referred to as an addressing domain in the sense that a mailbox is addressed or accessed through its group or domain.
The addressing domains of a messaging system may be set up so as to include or be associated with mailboxes having a common feature or attribute. For example, an addressing domain may be set up as the xe2x80x9c404 domainxe2x80x9d. Mailboxes whose numbers follow the telephone number format and include xe2x80x9c404xe2x80x9d as the NPA may be associated with the 404 domain. Thus, a mailbox with the number of 404.815.6213 is accessed through the 404 domain of the messaging system. Of course, an addressing domain in a messaging system may be set up so as to include or be associated mailboxes having a common feature other than an NPA. As an example, assume a company adopts a messaging system for use by its employees. A mailbox on the messaging system may be assigned respectively to each employee. All of the mailboxes assigned to the employees of the company may be associated with the same domain such as a xe2x80x9ccompany domainxe2x80x9d.
An association of a mailbox with a particular domain is not necessarily a permanent association. Events may transpire that lead to a change in association of a mailbox from one domain to another domain in the messaging system. For example, initially, a particular mailbox may have a feature in common with the other mailboxes associated with its domain, but that feature may change with respect to that particular mailbox. An example of a change in a common feature is that of a change in the NPA of a subscriber""s telephone number. Typically, a change in the subscriber""s telephone number leads to a corresponding change in the number of the subscriber""s mailbox for that telephone number. Referring to a previous example, the 404.815.6213 telephone number of a subscriber may become the new number of 770.815.6213. With the change, the new number of the subscriber""s mailbox may no longer have a common feature with the other numbers for mailboxes associated with the 404 domain. The association between the subscriber""s new mailbox number and the 404 domain is no longer valid for accessing the subscriber""s mailbox. A change in the association of the mailbox from the 404 domain to the 770 domain may need to be made to facilitate ready access to the subscriber""s mailbox with its new number.
Messaging systems such as the Access NP(copyright) system include processes for the change in association of a mailbox from one domain to another domain. These processes generally simply change the mailbox name in the appropriate field to reflect the change in domain.
Generally, such processes for changing the association of a mailbox from one domain to another domain in messaging systems have been problematic. An area of problems relates to the handling of information relating to miscellaneous services provided to a subscriber in addition to or in connection with the subscriber""s messaging service. To provide such miscellaneous services, a call to the subscriber""s mailbox may need to be forwarded or otherwise routed to another element, and/or information relating to the call must be provided to and/or obtained from another element. The information for the provision of the miscellaneous services to the subscriber may be present in connection with the association of the subscriber""s mailbox with an original domain. But this information may be lost or convoluted as the result of a process used to change the association of the subscriber""s mailbox from the original domain to a new domain. If the information is lost or convoluted, then the subscriber may not receive or may not properly receive the miscellaneous services.
Another area of problems relates to service interruptions caused by the process(es) used to change the association of a subscriber""s mailbox from one domain to another domain. The interruption in messaging service to a subscriber for the change in domain may take several hours, and even as long as a couple of days. During this interruption caused by the domain change process, neither the subscriber nor callers to the subscriber""s number have access to the subscriber""s mailbox. In effect, the subscriber is left without messaging service during the relatively lengthy domain change process. Leaving a subscriber without messaging service for such a relatively lengthy period of time is unacceptable in today""s competitive world of telecommunications.
Accordingly, there is a need making changes to the association of a mailbox from one domain to another domain in a messaging system such that the change process does not mishandle information relating to other services provided to the subscriber and does not leave a subscriber without messaging service for a lengthy period of time during the change process.
Methods and systems are presented for changing the association of a mailbox from a first domain to a second domain in a messaging system that includes mailboxes organized into domains. Advantageously, the change in domain association is carried out with only relatively brief interruption to messaging services provided to the subscriber.
If the domain to which the mailbox is to be changed is a new domain, then the new domain is created in the messaging system. Information relating to mailbox for use in the domain change may be obtained or otherwise accessed as necessary. This information corresponds to the entries from the relevant fields of the mailbox record associated with the mailbox having its domain changed and included in the database of the messaging system. As the information is changed, the information may be returned to or changed in the appropriate fields and their storage locations in the messaging system as appropriate so that the information may be used in providing messaging services to the subscriber.
A new mailbox name is created for the mailbox. The new mailbox name is added as an entry to the field including the list of other names in the mailbox record. Even though a new mailbox name is created and added as an entry to the list of other names, the entry in the mailbox name field is not deleted or changed. The entry in the mailbox name field remains the old mailbox name, to-wit: old domain+mailbox number.
Another field of the mailbox record that may be relevant to the change in domain is the field including the list of other names. Other than the entry of the new mailbox name, the list of other names may be empty of entries in the mailbox record, or the list may include one or more entries. An entry in the list of other names may include an xe2x80x9cother namexe2x80x9d as follows: domain+other number. If the list of other names includes one or more entries, then for each entry, a new corresponding entry is created. Each new corresponding entry includes a new xe2x80x9cother namexe2x80x9d, to-wit: new domain+corresponding other number. The xe2x80x9cother numberxe2x80x9d in the other name of an existing entry in the list of other names is used as the xe2x80x9ccorresponding other namexe2x80x9d in the new other name of the new corresponding entry for the list of other names.
A change then is effected in the incoming trunk configuration with respect to the mailbox having its domain changed. In particular, the data relating to the incoming trunk configuration is changed such that the old domain in the mailbox name of the mailbox is changed to the new domain. By this change, the routing of calls is changed to comport with the change in domain of the mailbox.
Advantageously, despite the change in the domain in the incoming trunk configuration, the messaging services to the subscriber continue because there are entries in the mailbox name field and in the field including the list of other names that cover both the new domain and the old domain with respect to the subscriber, the subscriber""s mailbox name, and the subscriber""s other numbers related to the subscriber""s mailbox. By this coverage, calls to the subscriber are properly routed to the subscriber""s mailbox.
However, as the next action in the change in domain association for the mailbox, the new mailbox name added as an entry to the field including the list of other names is deleted from the list of other names. The old entries in the list of other names are not changed nor deleted from the list.
The deletion is necessary so as to later allow the entry in the mailbox name field to be changed to include the new domain in the mailbox name. Why can""t the change in domain occur in the entry in the mailbox name field without the deletion? Because the entry in the mailbox name field cannot be the same as an entry in the list of other names. The entry in the mailbox name field cannot be changed to the new domain without the deletion because that would result in duplicate entries in the mailbox name field and in the field including list of other names. The new corresponding entries in the list of other names also may be deleted.
As a result of the deletion, the entries for the fields of mailbox name and list of other names appear before any alterations taken to effect the change in domain have been made. In other words, the entry for the mailbox name is old domain+mailbox number, and the entries in the list of other numbers include the old domain+other numbers.
As the next action in the change of domain association for the mailbox, the entry in the field of the mailbox name is changed. In the mailbox name field, the old mailbox name is changed to the new mailbox name so as to reflect the new domain. After the change, the entry in the field of the mailbox name appears as: new domain+mailbox number. Similarly, if the field including the list of other names includes one or more entries, each such entry is changed to a new entry. The old other name in each old entry is changed so as to reflect a new other name in the new entry. After the change, each entry in the list of other names appears as new domain+other number.
The changes described in the previous paragraph are made to follow the change in domain effected in the incoming trunk configuration. Particularly, the described changes are made to have the mailbox record (particularly the fields of mailbox name and list of other numbers) reflect the domain name change so that calls to the subscriber are properly routed based on the incoming trunk configuration to the subscriber""s mailbox including its change in domain association. The described changes may interrupt messaging services to the subscriber, but such interruption is generally very brief (two-six seconds according to the inventors). The interruption is generally brief because only a few seconds are necessary to carry out the described. The bases are laid for these few seconds of interruption by the changes initially taken with respect to the change in domain association for the mailbox. Those initial actions may be carried out without interruption in messaging services to the subscriber. Thus, the present inventions allow for a change in domain association of a mailbox by carrying out certain actions while messaging service continues without interruption so as to allow for only the briefest interruption when necessary to make other changes.
As the next action in the change in domain association for the mailbox, the list of other numbers is changed further by the addition of an entry for the old mailbox name. In particular, the old mailbox name including the old domain+mailbox number is added as an entry to the list of other numbers. The inclusion of the old mailbox name as an entry to the list of other numbers takes care of these other xe2x80x9coutgoingxe2x80x9d signals and messages at least until other actions are taken that affect those other signals and messages.
As the next action, the entries in the other fields of the mailbox record are changed as necessary or appropriate. For example, one of the fields of the mailbox record may be the list of routed names. The list of routed names may include as entries mailbox names. For each of these entries, the mailbox name is changed so as to change the old domain to the new domain in the mailbox name. The changes in the other fields are effected so as to properly route calls that may be based on data in these other fields.
As the next action, a change is effected in the integration configuration with respect to the mailbox having its domain changed. In particular, the data relating to the mailbox is changed such that the old domain in the mailbox name of the mailbox is changed to the new domain. By this change, the routing of signals, messages, etc. pertaining to such services as message waiting indicators (MWIsxe2x80x94whether stutter dial-tone, visual, or other indicator of a message received for the subscriber) is changed to comport with the change in domain of the mailbox.
Finally, other references to the old domain of the mailbox in the mailbox record and elsewhere in the messaging system or platform may be changed to the new domain, or deleted as appropriate.